Following the killing spree alleged to be the act
of John Muhammed and his associate, Lee Malvo, Americans learned that
the teenager was an illegal alien, originally from Jamaica. Moreover,
early indications suggest that Muhammed was engaged in the smuggling of
illegal aliens into this nation. Largely unknown to most Americans is
the large percentage of the nation's incarcerated criminal population
representing the failure of those agencies responsible to protect this
nation against the dangers posed by illegal aliens.

From the time you woke this morning to the time
you go to sleep tonight, 10,000 illegal aliens will have flooded into
the United States from and through Mexico. Tomorrow, the same will happen.
In the past 7 years, the estimated number of illegal aliens residing in
the U.S. has grown from 5 million to between 9 and 11 million.

In any given day, roughly one-third of the immigrants
penetrating our borders will be nabbed by authorities, returned, only
to try again the next day or even within the next few hours. It's like
a children's game of cops and robbers, only it is played with real guns,
real money and real consequences.

Clearly, if a nation is to exist, it must have borders-definitive
boundaries that separate the government, laws, ideas, traditions, history
and culture of one territory from another. There are issues of millions
of dollars in taxes, social services, and other subsidies involved. It
makes even less sense when those receiving government handouts and services
are not even citizens of the subsidizing nation. That is exactly what
is happening in the United States of America.

Current policy on illegal immigration in America
is a bungled, confusing, mixed message. On the one hand, the mere fact
that we label undocumented citizens who dwell within our borders "illegal
aliens" tells us that these folks are breaking the law simply by being
here. As illegal aliens, they are not entitled to the same constitutional
protections and rights afforded US citizens. Moreover, our government
commits sizable, though still woefully inadequate, resources to both preventing
illegal aliens from penetrating our borders and locating them for deportation.
In addition to the illegal aliens, there are an estimated 300,000 "absconders",
those who have overstayed their visa time limits are in this nation.

The same government that spends millions annually
in a supposed effort to stamp out illegal immigration is actually luring
and enticing illegal immigrants to come here! Sound crazy? It is. An absurd
ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982 declared that children of illegal
immigrants have a constitutional right to free public education. It prohibited
schools from denying illegal aliens access to education based on the status
of their citizenship. John Lee Malvo was enrolled in two schools during
his illegal stay.

The court, in reference to ILLEGAL aliens, declared
that undocumented, non-citizens are entitled to the same, free public
education to which Joe Taxpayer is entitled. And for what reason? Because
as long as ILLEGAL aliens are identifiable and present, rather than deport
them for ILLEGALLY residing in the U.S., we should do our best to turn
them into upstanding, working, non-taxpaying ILLEGAL aliens. Such was
the logic of the highest court in the land.

Then, as if the glaring inconsistency of our government's
policy weren't evident enough, the court also barred any communication
between public schools and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS). It said schools were not to cooperate with the INS in any way that
might "jeopardize immigrant students and their right of access."

The Urban Institute has estimated that 15% of all
kindergarten through high school kids in California are illegal immigrants.
This alone costs taxpayers $1.6 billion a year. Public schools, teachers'
unions and the department of education are constantly blaming their putrid
performances in the education arena on "lack of funds" or "large class
sizes." Neither makes mention of this massive, unaccountable drain on
taxpayers who finance this undocumented, illegal influx in our nation's
classrooms.

The total cost of providing federally mandated education
and health care to illegal aliens is estimated at more than $5 billion
annually. That's $5 billion dollars worth of lost education and lost health
care for American citizens. One in seven inmates in California state prisons
is an illegal alien. The estimated yearly cost of incarcerating illegal
immigrants in the United States is $500 million.

Hospitals, too, are required by law to treat any
illegal alien that shows up for medical care. Of course, the little issue
of "who pays for these unaccountable treatments" is not covered in this
law. As a result, many hospitals along the border between the U.S. and
Mexico have either been forced to close their doors or are facing severe
financial crises as mandatory healthcare treatment to illegal aliens gobbles
up their resources.

At a time when America is under attack by Islamist
holy warriors, the Census Bureau estimates that there are currently as
many as 115,000 illegal immigrants from Middle Eastern countries living
in the United States. In addition, there are over 400,000 illegal immigrants
who continue to live in the U.S. despite having received orders from judges
to be deported.

Both the Democrat and Republican parties are busy
climbing over one another in an effort to win over the Hispanic voting
bloc at the expense of sound immigration policy and national security.
One congressman has put forth a bill that will solve many of the problems
we currently face with illegal immigration in this country. Rep. George
Gekas (R-PA) has introduced H.R. 5013, the "Securing America's Future
through Enforcement Reform Act" (SAFER).

The concern over our nation's security has reached
a zenith not seen since World War II. The most basic step in bolstering
national security, while preserving the rights of American citizens, is
to secure our borders to insure we don't give terrorists a free pass to
roam the country.

Peyton
Knight is Director of Legislative Affairs for the American Policy
Center. Headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia, the Center is an activist,
grassroots think tank. It maintains an Internet site at www.americanpolicy.org